hokie4life Posted August 6, 2019 Share Posted August 6, 2019 I understand that the low-beam headlights are LED. Are the high-beams halogen or are they also LED on the XLT and Limited trims? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted August 6, 2019 Share Posted August 6, 2019 Both low and high beams are LEDs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyfire Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 Yup. Low and high are made from LED Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyfire Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 Yup. Low and high are made from LED Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean J. Posted March 18, 2020 Share Posted March 18, 2020 Hallelujah they're both LED. One of the few things Ford did right when it comes to the new model year and standard items vs options. But they still left incandescent turn signals in the "LED Taillamps", on EVERY trim. Yuck. I just coughed up a hair ball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metroplex Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 Unfortunately just because they are LED doesn't mean they are good. IIHS is now testing headlight performance on a lot of newer vehicles. My 2017 Ford Fusion Sport has LED low and high beams, my 2018 Explorer XLT has LED low / H7 high, and the 2020 Explorer has LED low/high, and F-150 Lariat w/ 502A and higher trims have LEDs as well. 2020 Escape Titanium has LEDs as well. Out of these, the Escape Titanium has the most lighting performance for low and high beams. The Fusion Sport and Explorer are inadequate in many of the test criteria, and the F-150 isn't that great either. However the 2016-2019 Explorer low beams are very good. I can attest that the first day I drove off the lot with my 2018 XLT, the low beams lit up everything. I never felt the need for more lighting, and my 2018 does not have fog lights (the LED foglights are worthless on my Fusion Sport). So using the Fusion Sport and 2018 Explorer IIHS data as baselines, I'd say the 2020 Explorer and F-150 LED headlights aren't going to be as good as the 16-19 LED low beams. But the 2020 Escape Titanium should have really good LED light output. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rampagex7 Posted April 17, 2020 Share Posted April 17, 2020 4 hours ago, metroplex said: Unfortunately just because they are LED doesn't mean they are good. IIHS is now testing headlight performance on a lot of newer vehicles. My 2017 Ford Fusion Sport has LED low and high beams, my 2018 Explorer XLT has LED low / H7 high, and the 2020 Explorer has LED low/high, and F-150 Lariat w/ 502A and higher trims have LEDs as well. 2020 Escape Titanium has LEDs as well. Out of these, the Escape Titanium has the most lighting performance for low and high beams. The Fusion Sport and Explorer are inadequate in many of the test criteria, and the F-150 isn't that great either. However the 2016-2019 Explorer low beams are very good. I can attest that the first day I drove off the lot with my 2018 XLT, the low beams lit up everything. I never felt the need for more lighting, and my 2018 does not have fog lights (the LED foglights are worthless on my Fusion Sport). So using the Fusion Sport and 2018 Explorer IIHS data as baselines, I'd say the 2020 Explorer and F-150 LED headlights aren't going to be as good as the 16-19 LED low beams. But the 2020 Escape Titanium should have really good LED light output. That is so true just because they are LED doesn't automatically make them better. My 2017 MKX had the luxury package with full LED headlights (they were also supposedly "adaptive" and didn't adapt at all) the low beams were ok but the highbeams were not that good at all you almost couldn't tell the difference between low/high. The previous 2013 MKX I had before the 2017 came with standard HID headlights which extended the beam pattern further than the LED and the highbeams were incredible for distance and spread. But I will admit Ford is getting better with the LED headlights. I have 2019 Fusion Energi Titanium with LED headlights and they are excellent, very wide beam pattern on the low beams you almost don't need the highbeams at all. And thankfully the whole car LED: headlight, taillight, front/rear signals. Actually the Fusion front turn signals look awesome the fade in/out with the LED DRL which change color to amber then back to white. It is ridiculous that they don't put full LED in the Explorer it is not exactly an entry level vehicle. My 2020 Aviator has the Pixel LED headlights and they are fantastic probably the best headlights I've ever seen yet but I haven't had an opportunity to test them extensively at night or with the highbeams yet. There's no reason why any carmaker today should still be making anything with an incandescent bulb in it anywhere. LED's have improved in quality and come down in price steadily for years, I don't think they are still using incandescent to save a few pennies but also because they burn out often so it gives dealers/mechanics more things to replace that they can charge you for. I tried changing front turn signal bulb on 2018 Escape myself and you almost need to remove the front wheel and all the trim around the wheel well just to get to the bulb socket. The goal is to make bulb replacement a PITA so that you bring it to the dealer and get charged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metroplex Posted April 17, 2020 Share Posted April 17, 2020 My Fusion Sport should have the same LEDs as your Energi Titanium. They're what I'd consider OK but they have a hard time illuminating far enough on the road especially in the dark with rain, ice, slush, and water-logged potholes. My 2014 SHO had factory HIDs that I always thought were garbage but couldn't fathom how HIDs could be so bad... until I pulled up the IIHS data for the SHO and sho'nuff, the headlights are garbage. I have no problems driving in the dark with my 18 Explorer LED headlights, and I do a lot of driving in the dark especially in bad weather. However, I'm not very confident with the Fusion headlight LEDs in bad weather conditions. The Fusion LED DRL/turn signals are nifty like you described. I've also had ice build up on my LED headlight lenses because they don't emit heat/IR at the lens like HIDs and halogens. Thanks to FMVSS, the US doesn't have a requirement for headlight washers like UNECE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metroplex Posted April 17, 2020 Share Posted April 17, 2020 2019 Fusion (LEDs are same for ENergi Titanium and Sport): https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/ford/fusion-4-door-sedan/2019#headlights 2016-2019 Explorer: https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/ford/explorer-4-door-suv/2018#headlights 2013-2019 Taurus (SHO HID's): https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/Ford/taurus-4-door-sedan/2019#headlights Then the 2020 Explorer headlights (scroll down for the XLT/ST): https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/Ford/explorer-4-door-suv/2020#headlights Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen Posted June 26, 2020 Share Posted June 26, 2020 I found this night review of the 2020 Explorer informative. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ5HXfOvSGc Gives you an idea about the adaptive lights as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen Posted June 26, 2020 Share Posted June 26, 2020 On 4/16/2020 at 9:30 PM, metroplex said: 2019 Fusion (LEDs are same for ENergi Titanium and Sport): https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/ford/fusion-4-door-sedan/2019#headlights 2016-2019 Explorer: https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/ford/explorer-4-door-suv/2018#headlights 2013-2019 Taurus (SHO HID's): https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/Ford/taurus-4-door-sedan/2019#headlights Then the 2020 Explorer headlights (scroll down for the XLT/ST): https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/Ford/explorer-4-door-suv/2020#headlights Thanks for the post. I was looking for something like this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kluger Posted July 29, 2020 Share Posted July 29, 2020 I'm happy with the LED headlights on the 2020 Explorer ST. Better than what I've experienced in other vehicles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metroplex Posted July 29, 2020 Share Posted July 29, 2020 How about compared with the 16-19 Explorer low beams? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalterPPK Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 LED is the way to go. Try to replace the turn signal lights, tail/brake lights to LED's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnewt Posted July 8, 2021 Share Posted July 8, 2021 On 4/3/2021 at 8:12 AM, WalterPPK said: LED is the way to go. Try to replace the turn signal lights, tail/brake lights to LED's Can you just replace the bulbs? I have a 2017 Limited & would like to replace the turn signal & brake light bulbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tntlars Posted March 9, 2022 Share Posted March 9, 2022 2020 Explorer ST better than the 2017 Explorer headlamps we had 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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